The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission or BERC turned down a proposal from the distributors to hike gas prices in early January because all the requirements for filing the applications were “not fulfilled”. Some others are now trying to push it through.
“We had received proposals from several distributors, but we rejected them as they were not pursuant to BERC laws and regulations,” BERC Chairman Md Abdul Jalil said on Thursday.
“We had asked them to resend the proposals by following the rules. Two to three companies have applied again.” Some eight to 10 documents, such as fees and audit reports, have to be submitted with the applications.
The government has seven companies in the gas sector, six for distribution and one for transmission.
The retail prices are fixed by adding the price, at which the transmission company supplies the gas, to operation and costs of the companies.
BERC has reservations about the distributors asking for a retail price hike even before bulk gas prices go up.
“And there is no good reason to increase the wholesale prices of gas right now, much less the retail prices. It beats us why the distributors are still keen on a price hike,” a BERC official said asking not to be named as he was not authorised to talk to the media on the issue at this stage.
“We’ve initially rejected their petition. Let’s see what happens next.”
According to media reports, distributors proposed to increase retail gas prices by 117 percent, asking BERC to raise the monthly cost of double-burner stove connections from Tk 975 to Tk 2,100 and single-burner stove from Tk 925 to Tk 2,000 at the consumer level.
They also asked the regulator to raise prices for prepaid, industrial, power plant, captive, and CNG refuelling station connections.
“We’re not thinking about how much the proposed hike is. The technical committee will look into it,” said BERC Chairman Jalil. “What’s crucial is that we’ll only think about it once all the companies ask for it.”
Md Abdul Mannan Patwary, managing director of distributor Pashchimanchal Gas Company Limited, said they forwarded the proposal to the regulator a second time along with all required papers and information.